It is well known in business offices to employ copy holders to support drafts of documents while they are being typed. In the most typical situation the copy holder is like an easel which rests on the typist's desk adjacent a typewriter. An example of such a copy holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,656 of Solomon, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In most cases the copy holder not only holds the document, it contains a line guide or ruler which can be moved down the text to indicate where the typist is in the document. Some copy holders can advance the line guide a line at a time by manually contacting a lever. Such a copy holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,241 of Waggoner and U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,841 of Funk.
Swing arms are support structures that generally include two pairs of parallel bars pivotally connected together. One end of the assembly is clamped to a stationary surface in such a manner that the pairs of arms may rotate about a vertical axis. The other end of the swing arm holds an object, e.g. a lamp, to be located at some position in space. Once in the desired position, clamps on the pivot joints cause the assembly to be locked in place.
While swing arms are most often used in the work place to position lamps, they may also be used to position documents, must like conventional copy holders. An example of a swing arm copy holder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,052 of Soloman et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
In most cases a conventional copy holder is most useful in the office because it is small in size and can be easily stored out of sight. However, if the print on the document being copied is small, it may be necessary to use a swing arm type copy holder to position the document close to the user's eyes. Further, when a computer terminal is used for typing, its associated disk drive and monitor may take up so much desk space that a conventional copy holder cannot be conveniently located, and a swing arm copy holder is required.
Copy holders are designed to hold papers 81/2 inches wide and up to 14 inches long. However, frequently information incorporated in reports to be typed comes from computer sheets, which sheets are significantly wider than 81/2 inches. Consequently, conventional copy holders are inadequate for supporting computer sheets.
It would be advantageous to have a copy holder which could be converted from the swing arm type to the desk type as needed, and which could also accommodate either conventional stationary or computer size paper.